Roman History, 48.25

Cassius Dio  translated by Earnest Cary

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25By these arguments Labienus persuaded Orodes to wage war and was entrusted by him with a large force and with the king’s son Pacorus. With them he invaded Phoenicia, and advancing against Apamea, he was repulsed from its walls but won the garrisons in the country to his side without resistance. 2For these garrisons consisted of troops that had served with Brutus and Cassius; Antony had incorporated them in his own forces and at this time had assigned them to garrison Syria because they knew the country. So Labienus easily won over all these men, since they were well acquainted with him, with the exception of Saxa, their leader at the time, who was brother of the general Saxa as well as quaestor and therefore refused to go over to the other side, being the only one who did; 3and Saxa the general he conquered in a pitched battle through the superior numbers and ability of his own cavalry, and when the other later on made a dash by night from his intrenchments, he pursued him. The reason why Saxa fled was that he feared his associates would take up with the cause of Labienus, who was trying to lure them away by means of pamphlets which he kept shooting into Saxa’s camp. 4Now when Labienus overtook the fugitives, he slew most of them, and then, when Saxa made his escape to Antioch, he captured Apamea, which no longer resisted, since the inhabitants believed that Saxa was dead; and subsequently he brought Antioch also to terms, now that Saxa had abandoned it, and finally, after pursuing the fugitive into Cilicia, he seized Saxa himself and put him to death.

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